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The Skull Beneath the Skin
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An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 237
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 193
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 189
Handsome Mark Callender did not die the way a young gentleman should. He was found hanged, a lipstick stain on his mouth and a nude girl's picture nearby. The official verdict was suicide, but his aristocratic father suspects murder.
He hires Cordelia Gray, a fledgling detective, to investigate. And as she follows a trail of guilty secrets and shameful sins, she concludes that the nicest people do the nastiest things!
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4 out of 5 stars
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quite suitable
- By Holly Helscher on 01-20-09
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Cover Her Face
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 504
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Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill. Cover Her Face is P. D. James' electric debut novel, an ingeniously plotted mystery that immediately placed her among the masters of suspense.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A Bit slow
- By J. Roderick on 05-24-12
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A Mind to Murder
- By: P. D. James
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- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 338
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Award-winning author P.D. James' second mystery in her best-selling series featuring Scotland Yard investigator Adam Dalgliesh is now available as an audiobook! When the administrative head of the Steen Psychiatric Clinic is found dead with a chisel in her heart, Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate. Dalgliesh must analyze the deep-seated anxieties and thwarted desires of patients and staff alike to determine which of their unresolved conflicts resulted in murder. Widely acknowledged as "the greatest contemporary writer of classic crime" ( The London Sunday Times), P. D. James received the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award for long-term achievement in 1999.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Mind to Read More of James
- By Holly Helscher on 01-20-09
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The Lighthouse
- An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
- By: P.D. James
- Narrated by: Charles Keating
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 714
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 339
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 343
Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding!
- By jb on 11-23-05
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Death of an Expert Witness
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 168
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 128
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
An evil-tempered forensic scientist is put to death, putting many of his colleagues out of misery. Dr. Lorrimer appeared to be the picture of a bloodless, coldly efficient scientist. Only when his brutally slain body is discovered and his secret past dissected does the image begin to change. Once again, Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh learns that there is more to human beings than meets the eye and more to solving a murder than the obvious clues.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Hard to Hear
- By John L on 07-15-09
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The Private Patient
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- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 477
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 257
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 255
Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating. Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Problem with narrator.
- By R & J Sentman on 12-12-08
-
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 237
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 193
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 189
Handsome Mark Callender did not die the way a young gentleman should. He was found hanged, a lipstick stain on his mouth and a nude girl's picture nearby. The official verdict was suicide, but his aristocratic father suspects murder.
He hires Cordelia Gray, a fledgling detective, to investigate. And as she follows a trail of guilty secrets and shameful sins, she concludes that the nicest people do the nastiest things!
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
quite suitable
- By Holly Helscher on 01-20-09
-
Cover Her Face
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 504
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 427
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 420
Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill. Cover Her Face is P. D. James' electric debut novel, an ingeniously plotted mystery that immediately placed her among the masters of suspense.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A Bit slow
- By J. Roderick on 05-24-12
-
A Mind to Murder
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 338
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 268
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 265
Award-winning author P.D. James' second mystery in her best-selling series featuring Scotland Yard investigator Adam Dalgliesh is now available as an audiobook! When the administrative head of the Steen Psychiatric Clinic is found dead with a chisel in her heart, Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate. Dalgliesh must analyze the deep-seated anxieties and thwarted desires of patients and staff alike to determine which of their unresolved conflicts resulted in murder. Widely acknowledged as "the greatest contemporary writer of classic crime" ( The London Sunday Times), P. D. James received the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award for long-term achievement in 1999.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Mind to Read More of James
- By Holly Helscher on 01-20-09
-
The Lighthouse
- An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
- By: P.D. James
- Narrated by: Charles Keating
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 714
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 339
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 343
Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding!
- By jb on 11-23-05
-
Death of an Expert Witness
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 168
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
An evil-tempered forensic scientist is put to death, putting many of his colleagues out of misery. Dr. Lorrimer appeared to be the picture of a bloodless, coldly efficient scientist. Only when his brutally slain body is discovered and his secret past dissected does the image begin to change. Once again, Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh learns that there is more to human beings than meets the eye and more to solving a murder than the obvious clues.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Hard to Hear
- By John L on 07-15-09
-
The Private Patient
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 477
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 257
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 255
Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating. Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Problem with narrator.
- By R & J Sentman on 12-12-08
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Unnatural Causes
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 234
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 186
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 181
Maurice Seton was a famous mystery writer - but no murder from his imagination could equal the ghastliness of his own death. When his grotesquely mutilated corpse is found in a drifting dinghy, ripples of horror spread among his bizarre neighbors: the cruel and cynical drama critic, the celebrated recluse, and the rakish young heir. It is up to Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh and his extraordinary aunt to discover the shocking truth about Seton's past - before the plot takes another murderous turn.
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4 out of 5 stars
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great read.
- By Marguerite on 03-05-15
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Shroud for a Nightingale
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 283
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 224
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 222
The young women of Nightingale House are there to learn to nurse and comfort the suffering. But when one of the students plays patient in a demonstration of nursing skills, she is horribly, brutally killed. Another student dies equally mysteriously, and it is up to Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard to unmask a killer who has decided to prescribe murder as the cure for all ills.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Early P.D. James is the best P.D. James
- By red-herring12 on 08-07-18
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Innocent Blood
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 103
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4 out of 5 stars 69
Adopted as a child into a privileged family, Philippa Palfrey fantasizes that she is the daughter of an aristocrat and a parlor maid. The terrifying truth about her parents and a long-ago murder is only the first in a series of shocking betrayals. Philippa quickly learns that those who delve into the secrets of the past must be on guard when long-buried horrors begin to stir.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Classic British Mystery
- By Karen Vincent on 12-23-14
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Devices and Desires
- An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery, Book 8
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 191
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 175
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 170
Commander Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard has just published a new book of poems and has taken a brief respite from publicity on the remote Larksoken headland on the Norfolk coast. A psychotic strangler of young women is at large in Norfolk, and getting nearer to Larksoken with every killing. And when Dalgliesh discovers the murdered body of the Acting Administrative Officer on the beach, he finds himself caught up in one of the most baffling murder cases of his career.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A well wrought mystery
- By Gretchen SLP on 08-26-15
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A Taste for Death
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 22 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 277
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 199
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 194
When the quiet Little Vestry of St. Matthew's Church becomes the blood-soaked scene of a double murder, Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh faces an intriguing conundrum: How did an upper-crust Minister come to lie, slit throat to slit throat, next to a neighborhood derelict of the lowest order? Challenged with the investigation of a crime that appears to have endless motives, Dalgliesh explores the sinister web spun around a half-burnt diary and a violet-eyed widow who is pregnant and full of malice.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Classic PD James
- By Jody R. Nathan on 02-24-10
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Original Sin
- Adam Dalgliesh, Book 9
- By: P.D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 20 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 180
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 161
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 155
Adam Dalgliesh takes on a baffling murder in the rarefied world of London book publishing in this masterful mystery from one of our finest novelists. Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are confronted with a puzzle of impenetrable complexity. A murder has taken place in the offices of the Peverell Press, a venerable London publishing house located in a dramatic mock-Venetian palace on the Thames. The victim is Gerard Etienne, the brilliant but ruthless new managing director, who had vowed to restore the firm's fortunes.
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5 out of 5 stars
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as always PD James is good
- By Kristine on 12-11-14
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A Certain Justice
- An Adam Dalgliesh Novel
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 243
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 216
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 215
It begins, dramatically enough, with a trial for murder. The distinguished criminal lawyer Venetia Aldridge is defending Garry Ashe on charges of having brutally killed his aunt. For Aldridge the trial is mainly a test of her courtroom skills, one more opportunity to succeed - and she does. But now murder is in the air. The next victim will be Aldridge herself, stabbed to death at her desk in her Chambers in the Middle Temple, a bloodstained wig on her head. Enter Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team, whose struggle to investigate and understand the shocking events cannot halt the spiral into more horrors, more murders....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Love those British Detectives
- By Angelyn S. Furst on 01-27-16
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The Murder Room
- An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
- By: P.D. James
- Narrated by: Charles Keating
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 662
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 289
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 286
The Dupayne, a small private museum in London, is in turmoil. As its trustees argue over whether it should be closed, one of them is brutally and mysteriously murdered. Yet even as Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team proceed with their investigation, a second corpse is discovered. Someone in the Dupayne is prepared to kill and kill again. Still more sinister, the murders appear to echo the notorious crimes of the past featured in one of the museum's galleries: the Murder Room.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Classic P.D. James
- By Jim on 11-23-03
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The Black Tower
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 149
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4 out of 5 stars 127
Just recovered from a grave illness, Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called to the bedside of an elderly priest. When Dalgliesh arrives, Father Baddeley is dead. Is it merely his own brush with mortality that causes Dalgliesh to sense the shadow of death about to fall once more?
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3 out of 5 stars
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Ok..but not great
- By Jack on 03-05-09
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Death in Holy Orders
- An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
- By: P.D. James
- Narrated by: Charles Keating
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 835
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 405
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 410
Atop a sweep of low cliffs stands the small theological college of St. Anselm's. Not far away, smothered beneath a fall of sand, lies the body of one of the school's young ordinands. When Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called to investigate the death, the college is torn apart by another death, a sacrilegious and horrifying murder.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Death in Holy Orders - good PBS
- By Jannice on 09-18-03
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Death Comes to Pemberley
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 1,275
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,084
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 1,102
It is 1803, six years since Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Darcy’s magnificent estate. Their peaceful, orderly world seems almost unassailable. Elizabeth has found her footing as the chatelaine of the great house. They have two fine sons, Fitzwilliam and Charles. Elizabeth’s sister Jane and her husband, Bingley, live nearby; her father visits often; there is optimistic talk about the prospects of marriage for Darcy’s sister Georgiana. And preparations are under way for their much-anticipated annual autumn ball.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Lots of fun for Austen lovers!
- By Lesley A. Slavin on 12-20-11
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Sleep No More
- Six Murderous Tales
- By: P. D. James, Peter Kemp - foreword
- Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
It's not always a question of "whodunit?" Sometimes there's more mystery in the why or how. And although we usually know the unhealthy fates of both victim and perpetrator, what of those clever few who plan and carry out the perfect crime? The ones who aren't brought down even though they're found out? And what about those who do the finding out who witness a murder or who identify the murderer but keep the information to themselves? These are some of the mysteries that we follow through those six stories.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfectly crafted short stories
- By RueRue on 02-02-18
Publisher's Summary
A Cordelia Gray Mystery.
Marking the return of Cordelia Gray, The Skull Beneath the Skin is a complex mystery which more than lives up to its predecessor, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. Hired to protect a beautiful but neurotic actress, Cordelia Gray soon becomes embroiled in a case as dangerous to her own life as it is mysterious.
Clarissa Lisle hopes to make a spectacular comeback in a production of The Duchess of Malfi, to be played in Ambrose Gorringe's sinister castle at Courcy Island. Cordelia is there to ensure her safety following the appearance of a number of poison-pen letters. But it soon becomes clear that all are in danger. Trapped within the walls of the Gothic castle, the treacherous past of the island re-emerges, and everyone seems to have a motive for sending Clarissa 'down, down to hell'.
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Kirstine
- 12-03-19
Surprised to be disappointed
I've enjoyed reading all the author's Adam Dalgliesh novels and the first Cordelia Gray story, but was disappointed by this one. It's weighed down by too much adjective-laden description of things unnecessary for the story which slows the action to being boring at times. The actual story verges on the preposterous.
I have mixed feeling about the narrator who at times overdoes screechy voices making them caricatures.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jasemin
- 07-28-19
Found it so difficult to concentrate on
Just wasn’t as engaging a storyline as her other Cordelia grey book.
Performed well but it was a bit meh
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 06-06-16
Good story spoils by narrator
What did you like best about The Skull Beneath the Skin? What did you like least?
PD James in good form. Narrator should learn how to pronounce certain English words. I.e gunwhale is pronounced gunnel. Aubretia is pronounced aubresha. Borscht does not have the t pronounced.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Cordelia Grey. A private eye caught up in something far more sinister than lost cats.
Would you be willing to try another one of Katie Scarfe’s performances?
No. Not for this type of book. Murder needs a less soppy voice. Would be better reading romantic chick lit. She must work on her pronounciation. She nearly spoilt the whole book for me.
Do you think The Skull Beneath the Skin needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
No. Unless one could be written giving Ambrose Gorringe his come uppance.
Any additional comments?
None.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful